My Little Portal Testing is scientific advancement
by Skullman846
Summary: Star Whistle awakens in an unfamiliar room which is apparently part of "Neigh Science Laboratory" an unfamiliar voice begins to give her instructions on what she should do and tells her that to escape she must complete the tests that lay ahead for her. But is everything as simple as it seems? And exactly what kind of tests has this mysterious voice have in store for her?
1. Rude Awakening

Star Whistle awoke; she glanced around the small room she had been asleep in. She remembered nothing other than her name. The room consisted of walls made from glass apart from a single door sized wall - made out of what appeared to be concrete - and a radio on a white square cube. However the scenery outside of the glass room looked like a disaster had occurred, the walls were covered in a thick layer of vines and various other plant life. The walls had crumbled over time, allowing dirt to fill the gaps and spill into the floor, overall the room looked a catastrophe and there was no way to escape this glass room she had awoken in. The square lights in the roof were either broken or flickering and the small area of wall previously mentioned had a thin metal frame around the edge of it, where in Equestria was she? There was a sudden noise, the sound of static filled the room followed by the sound of an unfamiliar voice

"Welcome to the Neigh Science Laboratory" began the now obviously pre-recorded announcement "If you are hearing this then it is more than likely that there has been some kind of catastrophic event which has affected the staff of this Laboratory. If, however, there is no disaster of any proportion then ignore this recording and resume with your work" Star Whistle listened closely to the recording, maybe this could be some kind of indication to why she was here

"The Neigh Science Laboratory has assembled a large testing facility for future generations to resume testing even in such an event as this, testing will commence in 5" Continued the voice, Star Whistle began to panic. The recording had given her little to no information as to where she was or what had happened, quickly looking around the room she tried to find a way out

"4" Resumed the voice. Star Whistle tried to charge up an ample amount of magic to shatter the glass, however she found herself unable to do so

"3" Rang the voice, echoing off of the walls of the broken room. Star whistle panicked more, why could she not charge her magic? She quickly ran towards the glass walls and began try to break them

"2" Stated the voice, yet again intruding upon Star Whistle's thoughts. The glass had began to break, there was a slight crack. Star Whistle couldn't help but form a small grin at this, she may be able to avoid this "testing"

"On—" Began the voice but it was interrupted by further static and the recording seemed to rewind and fast forward.

Suddenly it stopped and all was silent again, frozen in fear Star Whistle looked around the room for the cause of this. Was it just a fault? Or was it some ponies idea of a sick joke? Suddenly a high pitch noise echoed through the room

"Hello, Star whistle" said the voice, a very deep voice began to speak

Star Whistle found herself unable to speak, what had happened while she was asleep?

"I see you've realised you can no longer speak" Continued the voice, slightly smug "We performed an operation to remove your vocal chords so you couldn't argue to testing" Star Whistle was shocked, further fear flushed through her

"There was no other way you see..." Resumed the voice "I say removed but I use the term loosely. We simply used a device of ours to disable them until you complete the tests we have set out for you, after that you will be able to talk again. Just like nothing ever happened" Star Whistle thought to herself

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" She thought "Does Princess Celestia know about this 'Neigh Science' Laboratory?"

"Here's an interesting fact for you, I have the controls to the device controlling your vocal chords right here" Ranted the voice, slightly grating on Star Whistle's nerves now, if she could speak after the tests were complete then she would hurriedly complete them so she could leave the accursed lab

"Now" the voice started again, as if he had never talked to her before "Please walk through the portal on that wall before you" there was the sound of flicking switches and pressing buttons followed by an echoed twanging sound. An orange outlined portal had appeared on the wall with the metal outline around it. Star Whistles eyes widened, portal technology? Like teleportation? Wasn't that a spell that a unicorn could learn? What was the point?

"Come on" Said the voice, in a mildly annoyed tone "Go through" Star Whistle closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she would only do this because she wanted to leave. As she stepped through the portal she appeared outside of the glass box, near one of the larger cracks in the broken wall

"Good... oh, but where are my manners" Resumed the voice "You may call me... well not really call me... but you may associate this voice with the name 'Dark Cloud'" Star whistle blinked in disbelief

"And no, that's not my actual name. Why in Equestria would I give you that? Wouldn't want you telling anypony who I am..." Stated the voice "Anyway, walk down the hallway that's about to appear. The first test chamber isn't for quite a way, and you need to receive the dual portal device before performing any tests" Star Whistle nodded and looked around for said hallway, there were more tapping of keys and pulling of levers and a few panel walls pulled back and out to reveal a large iron walkway over the deepest hole she had ever seen, it went beyond how far she could actually see and the room she had just walked out of was only one of thousands of others, each wall covered in rooms with walkways just like this each leading to other areas.

"I remember the last pony that I brought down here" Began Dark Cloud "She looked quite similar to you but sadly she wasn't up to the task of completing the tests I had set out for her. In fact, you're going to exactly the same chambers she went to; which to be quite honest bores me a great deal considering I've seen them solved before... excuse me, I went off on a rant there didn't I?" Star Whistle rolled her eyes and continued to walk down the walkway, still taken back by the surroundings. Suddenly a bridge from another room collapsed, falling into the abyss below

"Oh! There goes another one, let's hope that doesn't happen to you 'eh? It would be pretty embarrassing to die before the first test even begins!" Started Dark Cloud, Star Whistle sighed. She knew he was going to be as obnoxious as possible to try and distract her from the task at hand "Reminds me of this Pegasus I had down here, she didn't really react well to having a metal ring holding her wings against her... couldn't hold the portal gun either! That's why we've decided upon a Unicorn only policy" Ranted the voice "And then..." his voice trailed off as Star Whistle began to focus upon getting to her destination, it was going to be a long walk

Upon arriving at the entrance to the first test chamber Dark Cloud piped up once again, not that he ever piped down of course

"Before you enter the first chamber you'll need to get the dual portal device... as I mentioned before" He began "So! All you have to do is..." the sound of buttons, keys and levers being pressed hit and pulled began

"Get it from over there" Dark Cloud chirped, some panels moved and there amongst the rubble and cracked walls laid the body of another unicorn, lifeless beneath a chunk of rubble "About the rubble, turns out that using explosives to distract test subjects is not the greatest idea! Such a shame to! She was almost on the second set of tests!"

Hesitantly and cautiously Star Whistle approached the body scared, and saddened, about the situation at hand

"I've granted you enough magic power to be able to not only hold but also to OPERATE the dual portal device, aren't I nice?" Dark Cloud resumed tediously. And apparently he was telling the truth, Star Whistle was able to levitate the portal gun as well as fire it "Right then! Now you have the dual portal device you need only to test your advanced leg replacements" more buttons were being hit at the other end of the microphone. A claw grabbed Star Whistle, pulling her towards the roof

"Now, if they work you'll be fine!" Explained Dark Cloud "But if not... then... well let's just say I'll have to find another test subject" Star Whistle tried to scream, but she couldn't. She tried to struggle, but the claw held her tight. And then, the claw let go and sent Star Whistle plummeting towards the ground at full force.

**My Little Portal; Testing is scientific advancement**

* * *

****_What's up guys I'm uploading this fic from over at FIMFiction, the full story is avaliable there if you don't want to wait for new chapters to come out. Over there are a load of other stories (Some of which I will be uploading here in due time) and I'll be posting updates on story progression. _

_See you guys next time ^.^_

_- Skull_


	2. The testing begins

Falling towards the floor Star Whistle felt fear overcome her, her life flashing before her eyes. And then she landed in a cloud of dust, causing an indent in the floor next to the body of the other test subject

"Looks like they work!" Chirped Dark Cloud "That was fun, it always is fun to test before testing. Wouldn't you agree? Oh wait, you can't talk..." and with that he chuckled. Star Whistle looked at the ground, she was alive? How was it possible?

"Well, off you go" Continued Dark Cloud "The test chamber doors should be open!" there was a sound of sliding doors, the test chamber doors had been opened and she trotted over to it

"Now before you start the test I should warn you that we do use deadly testing elements such as... well telling you isn't as fun as seeing you find out" Explained Dark Cloud "So I guess you can find the first element we use in here!"

The test chamber was a peculiar looking square room with white panelling, similar to that of the room she had awoken in but it was surprisingly not overgrown and destroyed. It was fairly simple, a cube dispensing machine in one corner and a pressure plate on the floor in front of a door.

"Well that's a no brainer..." Thought Star Whistle "Now how to dispense the cubes?"

"Oh! And to make things twice as interesting and fun, for science of course, we have removed the traceable wiring so you cannot tell which button does what!" Exclaimed Dark Cloud "Now go on! Enjoy the first of many wonderful tests!"

There was a row of seven buttons against the wall near the door, more disturbingly though there were a few patches of blood around the bases of the buttons stands so Star Whistle decided to take a generally more cautious approach, placing one orange portal on the wall near the cube dispenser she walked up to the buttons. First pressing the far right one, there was silence for a second and then a denying sound

"That's the one everypony goes for" Smugly began Dark Cloud "Personally my favourite" the panelling behind her shifted and slid down, revealing a line of turrets. Quickly Star Whistle shot the blue portal beneath her hooves and appeared next to the cube dispenser

"Oh! Oh! She's thought it through slightly!" Commentated Dark Cloud "But they can still see you" so quickly Star Whistle shot the blue portal behind the turrets and ran through the orange one

"Alright, now what..." she thought to herself, she began to kick the turrets over which caused them to explode

"You catch on fast" beamed Dark Cloud "Never doubted you for a second, not even when you were about to be filled with more holes than a changeling" rolling her eyes Star whistle returned to the buttons, she could now rule out the idea of using the far right button. Pondering over her next decision, and what on earth she would be faced with, she decided upon pressing the far left one instead. Doing so caused silence once again followed by yet another denying sound

"Bad luck there, really bad luck!" Chuckled Dark Cloud

The floor gave clicking sounds, sliding apart to create a chequered pattern of floor revealing an extremely deep moat with lava at the bottom

"That's gonna prove difficult to navigate" he continued to commentate "And now it's a... hold on..."

Star Whistle turned back to the buttons, there was only one now. The others had plunged into the depths of the lava below

"That's not meant to happen... I don't remember putting a chequered pattern floor" panicked Dark Cloud "Hmm... stay put for a second" there was a few moments of silence and all of a sudden the entire room went pitch black, lit only by the horrifying lava below. Suddenly a panel in the roof began to shake and through fell a cube, was this how cube dispensers worked? This was followed by some inaudible babbling, mutters and sounds of frustration.

Star Whistle was genuinely horrified, trapped in an unknown underground lab being forced to do tests and now there was a strange cube in the room and an even stranger sound of another pony in the roof.

After about 10 minutes of standing in darkness the lights began to flicker on again, the floor still chequered and the sounds of frustration had stopped and gone a while ago

"That was funny..." Began Dark Cloud "The entire power grid went down, meaning that you could have talked for that 10 minutes I was gone; speaking of which, did you miss me? I know my commentary is always valuable to every test subject" Star Whistle had done this many times already, but she rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Oh, I see you got a cube then" Continued Dark Cloud "Well that means we can go to the next test!" so Star Whistle began to cautiously hop along the chequered floor to the cube. All of a sudden the floor panel she stood on shook, Star Whistle slid to the edge of the panel and clung on for dear life

"Oh I'm sorry, I was just trying to distract you" Began Dark Cloud "Let me help you" surprisingly he actually did, a panel appeared below her and pushed her upwards. She then continued on her journey to the cube; taking the cube in her hooves she tossed it to the pressure plate, luckily it landed directly on it forcing open the doors to the next test chamber. The floor panels then returned to normal, and walking over to the cube she noticed that it had strange drawings on the side of it. Doodles and messy lettering all over it, thinking nothing of it she continued to the next test chamber which was surprisingly a library. Wait... a library? Why would they decorate a test chamber like this?

"This is a relaxing test to relieve you of the stress caused by the last one" Began Dark Cloud "Behind one of these book shelves is the button to open the door to the next test; I want you to find it. Each shelf has to have about 30 books removed before the back panel can be opened. Now while you're doing that I'm going to go and get myself some coffee, because you wouldn't believe how stressful it is watching an imbecile like you attempt to solve simple puzzles"

And with that Star Whistle began to search for the button.

After what seemed like hours Star Whistle finally found the button, but there was a twist. I mean, of course there was a twist there was an insane pony forcing her to perform scientific tests, and of course the button just had to be on the other side of a room full of turrets.

This was certainly going to be a challenge.


	3. An appearance

Star Whistle stared at the button and the field of targeting lines emitting from the turrets

"Here" Offered Dark Cloud "I'll help you!" Star Whistle began to feel extremely uneasy and nervous, Dark Cloud offering to help wasn't the most reassuring thing you could ever hear, and with the tapping of a few buttons the turrets began to shift around on the panelled flooring below as did the button which of course just now had to be hanging from the roof

"There, I've moved the turrets around so it's easier. But of course it's equivalent exchange! I can't help you for the sole purpose of helping you, it is a scientific test after all. So I kept it the same difficulty by adjusting the location of the button!" He rambled, during this Star Whistle was planning, portal surfaces surrounded the room except for the walls behind the turrets. How on earth could she get past them?

"You know, you are in a library" Mocked Dark Cloud "There could be something to help you in here, maybe some self help books. You seem like you have a short temper and an even shorter memory, you really do remind me of a goldfish. That's mainly why I set this little test up! You could have read some of the books..." his voice trailed off as Star Whistle tried her hardest to concentrate fully on the task at hand and managed to quickly devise an idea, throwing a book into the targeting lines she timed how long it took for them to fire. Apparently they had a 3 second delay, helpful to her or not it was still nice to know. The sound of Dark Cloud's gruelling voice over the speakers slowly halted and instead all was quiet, seems she managed to shut him up which allowed Star Whistle to concentrate for a few more moments in the glorious silence of the not so glorious lab. And then she devised an idea

As Star Whistle thought over her plan she became more and more hesitant to perform it; what if she didn't have to destroy or disable the turrets? What she would do is placed a portal on the floor of the library and a portal on the floor under the button, jumping from the top of a bookshelf would allow her to maintain the speed she gained and throw her up and through the portal directly at the button. Which perhaps wasn't the greatest idea as only her legs had been replaced to negate any harm from them, but she would continue with the plan nonetheless?

"Come on, just do something" Complained Dark Cloud "It's so devastatingly simple that you'd have to have a shorter attention span than Derpy Hooves to not understand it!" Star Whistle began to contemplate stopping doing anything at all, but decided she'd rather escape and get her voice back, so firing the portals in the previously mentioned locations she clambered to the top of a book case and thought through her plan yet another time

"Oh... I see what you're doing, very clever. Very clever." Began Dark Cloud "But there are still the turrets to consider" Star Whistle smiled at this, she had already taken it into consideration, she would be in and out of the room in under 3 seconds so they wouldn't be able to target her. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath Star Whistle leant forward and allowed herself to drop directly into the portal below.

Dark Cloud watched on the monitor before him as the test subject he insulted so much had figured out the library puzzle in a quicker time than any other subject. Usually they wouldn't have even found the button yet, thinking over this he decided that he would require another cup of coffee if he were to resume watching the subject move at an alarmingly fast rate, despite whatever he had said to Star Whistle before she had been the most promising subject of the entire project.

Trotting over to the rusted and worn coffee machine he glanced around the room he sat in, nothing but monitors lighting it and nothing but test tubes, vats and general scientific apparatus surrounding the room, beside the coffee machine was a rusty remote control. Dark Clouds mind rushing back to **him **the test subject which had shown equally as much potential as his current one, and the one who he assumed was behind the stunt pulled in the first chamber; however not even he could have predicted **he** would have interfered with the previous test subject so much that it would result in an untimely demise.

Not that it bothered Dark Cloud at all, his bloodshot eyes had grown weary of watching the foolish unicorn before blunder its way through the test chambers out of sheer luck as he longed for a new subject. One that would actually be interesting to watch; one like his current test subject, he took the coffee pot in his hooves and examined it, his chaotically tangled black mane swinging in the way of his eyes before he could get a glimpse of the contents, his mind rushing back to the first test chamber that Star Whistle had passed. Why would **he** want to interfere in a test like that, especially the first test. **He** wouldn't usually obtain interference until around the 6th test chamber and even then not of that level; maybe he saw what Dark Cloud also saw in this test subject and a feeling of fear rushed over him. He wouldn't let **him **steal Dark Clouds only hope. Not after all that he'd been through. Not after all he had lost. Lowering his head and closing his eyes he began to curse under his breath, trotting back to the monitors with the coffee pot still in his hooves and watched as the test subject pressed the button and fell back through the portal with enough time to avoid being shot by the turrets.

"Impressive indeed" he thought, a smile appearing on his face "I may be able to leave after all"

Turning his attention to the monitor which showed the next test chamber his smile disappeared, the room was dark and in the middle stood the outline of **him**. This was not what Dark Cloud wanted to happen.

Star Whistle stood at the test door as it slid open hastily still shaken from the experience of narrowly avoiding a timely demise at the hands of the turrets, as the doors opened the next room was dark and around her the panelled floor moved and formed a box, ensuring the only way she could walk would be forward. The doors slid shut behind her, leaving her in complete darkness

"NO!" Yelled Dark Cloud over the speakers "DON'T YOU INTERF..." he was cut short by the electricity being turned off. Star Whistle thought to herself, the power was off. So could she talk?

"If you're thinking it, yes you can talk now" Croaked a voice from within the chamber, Star Whistle staggered back "I mean you no harm or else I would have killed you by now" the voice added trivially. It was extremely hard to tell if the voice came from a male or female but Star Whistle decided upon it being a male.

"Who are you..." Began Star Whistle, the sound of her own voice was music to her ears. Still the same as always, it appeared as if Dark Cloud was telling the truth, a light and caring voice that seemed welcoming "And why am I here?"

"I refuse to tell you the first part, however I can explain briefly why you are here, no doubt Dark Cloud is trying to restore power as quickly as possible" Croaked the voice "For the purpose of identification I will allow you to call me by the name of 'Freedom' for that is what I intend to give you" taken back by this Star Whistle stood in disbelief

"Why don't you show me your face? It would allow me to trust you more than I do" She asked as politely as possible

"I cannot. The lights are out" Smugly replied Freedom "Now, you wanted an explanation as to why you were here, that I can understand. I desired an explanation when I was first called here"

"You're..." Began Star Whistle

"The Neigh Science Laboratory started shortly after Celestia began her rule, only lasting for a matter of years before more technology companies and labs began to establish around Equestria. Being the least advanced and least staffed the Neigh Science Laboratory had its funding cut off completely as Celestia felt that other companies had the potential to go further than Neigh Science. But life and work at Neigh Science Labs continued, though not as pleasantly as before, they wanted to produce something that would impress Celestia and everypony in Equestria so they began to develop the basic understanding and concept of AI and robotics. But of course as nice as it sounds the ideals of Neigh Science Laboratory had been out-dated and shunned over the course of the 100 years they had been running however that never stopped them, continually working on an AI which would be able to perform all of the ponies jobs from Weather Management to raising the moon and sun.

But sadly the owner of Neigh Science Laboratory passed away a matter of months after the project began, slowly but surely the entire company began to pass away whether that be from exposure to radioactive chemicals or from the new turret AIs turning rogue. Leaving only one earth pony in control of the entire facility, allowing him to do as he saw fit without consequence or responsibility for his actions, Neigh Science was now an officially dead concept, long forgotten under the toll of time.

The only pony left began to go by the name of Dark Cloud rather recently, of course no records of anypony called "Dark Cloud" appeared in any of the Equestrian censuses and therefore he was officially labelled a filly's tale, one to scare children from being bad in fear the Dark Cloud would use his evil machinery to take them away. But Dark Cloud had something more sinister in mind than taking filly's away. He began to blame Celestia for his problems, cursing her as she cut off the companies funding which resulted in all of this, rumour has it that Dark Clouds father was the previous owner of Neigh Science Laboratory.

I know what you're thinking 'Wouldn't that make Dark Cloud over 100 years old?' and you would be right in saying that. But as I mentioned before, 'Dark Cloud' only made an appearance quite recently. In fact so recently it's almost as if he had also died along with the other members of the Neigh Science Laboratories. But Dark Cloud had thought about this, he decided to wait for the next intelligent generation of ponies and unicorns, freezing himself for 100 years and barely being able to survive. If what I say is correct then it matches up exactly with the time of 'Dark Cloud's' reappearance, just after the elements of harmony were harnessed to defeat Nightmare Moon.

I hope I haven't confused you" Finished Freedom

Star Whistle's head spun, overwhelmed by the sudden flow on information

"But wh.." she began, finding herself unable to speak

"The power is returning" Contemplated Freedom "I will talk with you later" and with that the sound of trotting and a roof panel falling marked the departure of Freedom. And so the lights flickered back on and Dark Clouds voice rang over the speakers yet again

"Pesky... very pesky..." Began Dark Cloud in a frustrated tone "Just get on with the next test, subject. I need to see to some things"


	4. Troubled Memories

Smiling and walking down the stretching hallway Dark Cloud made his way to the central research office as he was required to inform the leading board members of progress on the new turret AI he had been issued to program. As he passed his work mates he nodded or widened his smile, it had always been his dream to work in a place like this. Even if Equestria had ceased funding the workers hadn't at all given up, and his friends in the leading board had reassured him that the threat of being shut down was zero to none. As the door at the end of the hall drew closer he ensured he was standing as straight as possible and his lab coat was tidy, he didn't want to make a bad appearance in front of his bosses after all. The doors before him moved open slowly as he approached revealing an array of ponies in suits looking towards the door with a look of slight concern  
"Ah! Dark Cloud" Began the leading member Acid Vats "I take it you're here to report on your most recent task?" nodding and nervously approaching the center of the room Dark Cloud though over what he was about to say, as to not stutter or pause during his sentence  
"I am indeed" Beamed Dark Cloud "The turret AI is coming along brilliantly, in fact you'll be able to see a demonstration if you will allow me to use the screen" this caused a few ponies in the room to murmur to one another and gain some odd looks  
"Well, I can't see the harm" Replied Acid Vats passing him the controller, the screen flickered and switched to the camera of the AI test chamber, placed in the center was a single turret, with the press of a button a few panels moved and produced a test dummy which triggered the turret to fire rapidly at it. The ponies in the room murmured once again and was given more approving looks to which Dark Cloud grinned, happy that the leading board members enjoyed his work  
"Outstanding!" Exclaimed one member  
"Unbelievable!" Added another  
"You've outdone yourself again, Dark Cloud" Grinned Acid Vats "Now off you go, you deserve a break" Dark Cloud smiled and trotted out of the doors  
"I wonder what they're saying" He thought "I bet they're discussing using it as the leading design idea of this year" and then an idea formed, he would fuse the door system to hear what they were saying and he would be able to finally find out what the board thought of his inventions. Grinning wildly at this idea Dark Cloud began to work on fusing the doors automatic opening system

After a few minutes of tedious circuitry work Dark Cloud had finally managed to fuse the door mechanism which would only work for a matter of minutes, pressing the side of his head against the door and keenly listening he began to fathom what they were saying  
"Acid, I just don't think that it meets standards of the company..." Began a voice "He's out slowest worker and he produces nothing that is particularly different in any way shape or form. Several other workers created an equally as effective turret AI and did so in only a few hours... Dark Cloud took a few weeks..."  
"I know but we can't just tell him that straight out..." Began Acid in a regretful tone "I'm not sure hiring him was a great idea"  
pulling his head away from the door Dark Cloud frowned, a few tears in his eyes as he began to think over what had been said in the meeting. A tear began to roll down his cheek as he closed his eyes and turned away, starting to run as fast as possible to escape the door. Escape what had been said; to escape reality. His dreams had been shattered, hopes destroyed and the will to carry on completely taken away from him. Running into an unidentified room he closed the door tight behind him, fusing the wiring the same way he had done with the leading board members and sinking down a wall he began to break down into tears.

As a colt Dark Cloud had always dreamed he would one day be a renowned scientist for creating something like a self functioning facility of sorts, something that could be completely controlled by a single pony and Neigh Science Labs did exactly that. Everything in the facility bound to a control room:  
Floor and Wall paneling, liquid dispensing, doors, distribution of food and equipment and even access to the workers personal work accounts with the ability to make changes and even completely erase a ponies identity with the press of a button, it was like a heaven for Dark Cloud, and on top of all that he was even able to refuse using his own name for his nickname 'Dark Cloud'  
But after hearing what the leading board had said, all confidence had left Dark Cloud degrading him to nothing but another pony who had no idea what they wanted to achieve.

The Leading Board had finished it's meeting, leaving the room. Dark Cloud watched on the monitor as they left; the ones who mocked him behind his back one thought going through his mind  
"Revenge"  
After he had finished crying he had found out that this was the central control room and he had performed his fusing incorrectly, sealing the door permanently. But there was no other place Dark Cloud would rather be than in the control room of the facility of his dreams. Pressing a few buttons and shifting a few panels Dark Cloud gave the most horrifyingly large grin any pony had ever seen as the wall panels began to close in on the members of the board. Laughing manically as this happened Dark Cloud wandered around the room, knocking over test tubes and vials  
"They thought that I wasn't good enough..." He yelled "I'll prove them wrong! I'll test as many new inventions as I possibly can and... and I will become the most renowned scientist in all of Equestria!" adding a dramatic laugh at the end of this he glanced back at the screen, thinking over what he had just done. And it hit him like a tonne of bricks, he had just killed his friends. His workmates. His eyes grew wider as he thought about this, and his heart sunk; heavy with grief as the realization of this continued to shock him. Slamming his hooves down onto the keyboard he let out a scream of rage and sorrow, tears running down his cheeks as sheer anger took him over, wanting to leave this life behind and all to do with it.  
The less sane part of his mind began to pipe up, urging him to leave everything behind by deleting everyponies identity, including his own. Starting a new life simply known as Dark Cloud, he nodded to himself slowly at first  
"Yes..." he murmured under his breath, tapping a few keys "I'll remove everyone..." and so Neigh Science Labs was left with no employees, all dead with the only one surviving known simply as Dark Cloud. Which of course, there was no actual Equestrian records of as it wasn't Dark Clouds real name.  
He had started a new life, a new fate. This facility was now his, all he had to do was remove the workers. Pulling the microphone towards him he spoke  
"All members of the Neigh Science Lab..." He began, his voice in a grim tone "You are all fired... you are to never mention this facility to anypony in Equestria... this is Dark Cloud speaking, the owner of this facility as of now" the workers were confused to say the least, gradually making their way to the exit of the facility which was located below the Everfree Forest. And as the final worker left the doors slammed shut alarmingly fast as the tree hiding the facilities entrance began to collapse, covering the door completely.

(Flashback chapter)

Dark Cloud opened his eyes, the facilities power had been cut out again. He was more than likely conversing with Star Whistle as he was napping.  
Dark Cloud had began to nap as he decided that Star Whistle would find out about what ample knowledge he had with him. And he hadn't slept in who knows how long, tapping a few buttons on the keyboard the backup generator began to whir and slowly power the facility  
"This facility is mine" he thought to himself, closing his eyes "It is mine and always will be" slowly the monitors turned back on and Star Whistle was soon visible. Slowly pulling the mic closer to himself he began to speak. He might as well fool him into believing he had been hard at work after the power went out  
"Pesky..." he began in a convincingly frustrated tone "Very pesky..."


End file.
